Hateful protesters attempted to force entry inside Mojo’s Lounge & Bar on Thursday night, hours after the bar canceled a drag event due to increased threats of anti-LGBTQ violence.
The Woodland bar announced on social media on Thursday that they had decided to cancel the drag queen happy hour planned for that night, citing concern about hate groups in Northern California inciting violence at drag events.
In spite of the cancellation, owner Christy Hayes said that Mojo’s was still busy on Thursday evening, when disrupters storming the event were met with about 60 patrons who had flocked to the bar to celebrate the last day of pride month and “not let hate win.”
“I’m still trying to process the ‘coulda, woulda, shouldas,’ and how we make sure this doesn’t happen,” Hayes said. “How do I stop hate from outside the community, and very far outside the community, from coming in when people are just trying to exist and live their lives?”
Threats of violence
Posts threatening violence at the Mojo’s drag happy hour began to circulate when a flier advertising the event was picked up by the far-right Twitter account Libs of TikTok on June 8. The account has 1.3 million followers.
On June 29, NorCal Resist posted a warning to social media that members of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, planned to disrupt the drag happy hour. NorCal Resist is a grassroots activism group that monitors activity from far-right groups on encrypted messaging services like Telegram, where the messages about Mojo’s were discovered.
After the post from NorCal Resist, Hayes said, the threat began to feel “a little bit more local.” Mojo’s requested an increased police presence on the block for Thursday night, but decided to cancel the event entirely when the scheduled drag performers began to pull out of participating due to safety concerns.
“We worked closely with Woodland Police Department and local security services to make everyone as safe as possible,” Mojo’s posted on social media. “Unfortunately, organizers and performers still did not feel comfortable putting the event forward with the recent escalation from hate groups in and around Northern California towards drag events.”
The disruption at Mojo’s comes in the wake of an incident earlier in the month when five members of the Proud Boys stormed a drag queen-hosted story hour in a Bay Area library, shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs until they were confronted by police.
‘Packed house’ despite cancellation
Despite the cancellation, Hayes said that Mojo’s had a “packed house” on Thursday evening, with several drag performers showing up to perform an impromptu routine and comedy show.
“Everyone was taking pictures with the drag queens and just having a great night,” Hayes said. “Everyone was so excited because tensions were high. Everyone was worried that the Proud Boys, the disrupters, or whatever they want to call themselves would show up.”
It was around 7:45 p.m., as people were filtering out after the performance, that Hayes said between eight and 10 agitators began walking down First Street towards Mojo’s.
According to a social media post from the Woodland Police Department, the protesters “were disruptive while making derogatory comments about the event and the LGBTQIA+ community.” Hayes remembers them yelling, “How many kids are in there?” in a possible reference to the original Libs of TikTok post, which pointed specifically to the drag event being open to all ages.
When the disrupters arrived, Hayes said, the police nearby called in backup and those still at Mojo’s locked themselves inside the bar. The door was opened when someone stuck outside the bar was allowed in, and four to five of the agitators began trying to rush inside.
In an attempt to force them back, a patron of Mojo’s deployed pepper spray in the direction of the aggressors. Those inside could then pull the door closed, but Hayes said a cloud of pepper spray drifted back into the room, forcing everyone in Mojo’s bar and the adjoining restaurant to evacuate the building through a back exit.
Even after the evacuation, Hayes said, the agitators lingered, “yelling at the empty building” until they eventually walked away.
The pepper spray triggered an asthma attack in one of the patrons. The person was helped by medics on scene, Hayes said. No other injuries were reported.
‘Their aggression is only going to get worse’
Hayes said she saw police follow the agitators away when they left, but no arrests were made.
“All we can hope from this is that maybe we can identify one or two of them to add to the list, because their aggression is only going to get worse,” Hayes said. “And eventually, someone is going to get seriously injured.”
In a video posted to Woodland’s police department’s social media on Friday afternoon, Chief of Police Derrek Kaff said that officers were in the process of reviewing surveillance videos and following leads in collaboration with the FBI to determine the source of the threats made both in person and online.
The Woodland Police Department also released body camera footage from an officer present at the incident. The footage shows several individuals shouting homophobic slurs as they attempt to force their way inside the bar, backing away only after both disrupters and several police officers were caught in pepper spray sprayed from inside the bar.
“If we can make arrests, we absolutely will,” Kaff said.
Kaff also called for members of the community to come forward with any information about the incident and the identities of the disrupters present at the event.
“Your hateful messages and actions are not welcome in our community,” Kaff said, directly addressing those who came to Mojo’s to incite violence. “Woodland and your police department celebrate and respect people from all walks of life. Our strength is our diversity and our ability to accept every member of our community.”
The incident at Mojo’s follows an announcement of a new anti-hate crime initiative from the agency.
In a Tuesday news release, the department announced that it would partner with local businesses to provide designated “Safe Places” for victims of bias or hate crimes in the community. Participating establishments will be identified with a “Safe Place” sticker and receive training on how to help a person in need.
Communicare Health Centers, which sponsored the event at Mojo’s as part of Elevate Queer Yolo pride month programming, also released a statement on Friday condemning the disrupters.
“We have many patients, clients, and employees who live in Woodland,” CommuniCare CEO Melissa Marshall said. “We appreciate the local LGBTQ+ and ally community response to this bigotry as well as their support for the important work we do every day at CommuniCare Health Centers.”
This story was originally published July 01, 2022 8:18 AM.
